Shotlist

Ken Smith sez: Dinah Shore sings her heart out in this theatrical commercial for the unmemorable 1953 Chevrolet BelAir. Possibly the only film that contains the complete "See The U.S.A. In Your Chevrolet" lyrics.
Promotes 1953 Chevrolet car.
Opens on set of television studio. There is a behind the scenes look at television production.
Dinah Shore singing an entire song (about spring). Then she addresses the camera to talk about the beauty of this year's Chevy.
Also: Dinah singing: See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet.
Sign: "Quiet please"
Film production: Shows process photography in studio with background.

Reviewer:bgrauman -
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December 24, 2009 Subject:
A delightful "shill" for her sponsor

At the time this was produced, Dinah appeared for Chevrolet in a twice-weekly early evening 15 minute musical interlude (just before John Cameron Swayze's "CAMEL NEWS CARAVAN") on NBC. She represented her sponsor for 10 years, until the end of her "DINAH SHORE CHEVY SHOW" in June 1961. She gave her all for Chevy, appearing at their dealer conventions and promoting their models in "commercial" films, including this one. She was not only a great singer, she was a "star salesman", who knew exactly what the public wanted to hear...even when "pitching the product".

Dinah Shore is full of charismatic energy in this theatrical promotional for the 1953 BelAir by Chevy. She gets your interest by singing "I't A Most Unusual Day" from the MGM film "A Date With Judy," then makes a smooth transition into promoting the car. The theme song for Chevy is excellent, and the showing of beautiful places in America motivates the driver. A well crafted production.

Reviewer:Gojoe283 -
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July 24, 2006 Subject:
Not a Production Chevy but a Prototype!

B"H

A wonderful film, but the car shown is a preproduction model. The production '53 model did NOT have the rear vent windows! The vent windows were deleted at the last minute before production commenced.

I'm a Union Stagehand here in Detroit, where Jam Handy was really located. (The other offices were just that, offices... the real filming happened here, or on location, but the crew came from here in Detroit.) Some of the old stagehands from Handy are still around our local, but not too many. The stories of how many of these props (like cars, fridges and the like) ended up in their garages, "rec rooms" and elsewhere in their homes are hilarious. (I know one stagehand that got a new 1957 Chevy, because GM just never came and got it after the filming... no kiddin!) Interesting too are the many, many stories I've heard about the "old days at Handy" from some of these guys at lunch or coffee. Someone should really write a book about Jam Handy, as I'm sure it would be quite an interesting read. In fact, perhaps the Handy films deserve their own place here on the archive. For those that don't realize it, Handy, at one time, used more film than Hollywood, and were located just down the street from the GM Building on Grand Boulevard in the north end of Detroit. There's a reason they were so close to GM... look at who most of their films were made for!

By the way folks, it's "Jam Handy Productions". I've seen it called other things here and there around the site, but it's Jam Handy. Trust me.

Some of these other film companies from Detroit (those that did industrials and commercials) were just the Jam Handy guys, churning them out under different company names. In a few cases, it WAS a different company, but it was the same old Handy crew doing it.

You can thank the stagehands of Detroit IATSE Local 38 for these wonderous films, and I'm glad to have some of them as friends and fellow stagehands. I've shown some of these films to them, and you should see the smiles as they say "Hey, I remember working on that one!". (grin)

A nifty little advertisement for the 1952 Chevrolet featuring Dinah Shore singing 2 songs, and a lot of advertisement for the new Chevy lines. Film somewhat tries to let us in on TV magic tricks, yet the whole thing is to just pimp you on how you should see the U.S.A.